Saudi Arabia imported more than 2.4 million vehicles at the cost of SR 181 billion in the past three years, whereas the value of its imports of automotive parts and accessories stood at nearly SR 19 billion, according to the General Department of Statistics.
Commerce and Industry Tawfiq Al-Rabiah said a number of auto firms such as Mercedes, Land Rover and other companies had expressed willingness to set up auto factories in the Kingdom.
The auto firms are in talks with the national industrial clusters program (NICP), he said.
The NICP aims to attract and provide support for the establishment of car assembling projects.
Azaam Alshalabi, chief of NICP, said car production in the Kingdom is estimated to hit 600,000 units by 2025.
Economists say that the Kingdom can achieve success in the auto industry because of the availability of basic materials such as iron, plastic, aluminum and glass, in addition to supportive industries.
The Council of Ministers recently approved the extension of NICP for another five years as part of efforts to strengthen the Kingdom’s drive toward industrialization.
Recent reports said the Kingdom offers lucrative investment opportunities in five key industrial sectors. They are minerals and metals; automotive, plastics and packaging; home appliances and solar energy.
Teams of professionals are available in each of these fields to offer consultation and technical support to investors, officials said.
Auto giants ‘in talks to set up KSA manufacturing ventures’
Auto giants ‘in talks to set up KSA manufacturing ventures’
Emerging markets should depend less on external funding, says Nigeria finance minister
RIYADH: Developing economies must rely less on external financing as high global interest rates and geopolitical tensions continue to strain public finances, Nigeria’s finance minister told Al-Eqtisadiah.
Asked how Nigeria is responding to rising global interest rates and conflicts between major powers such as the US and China, Wale Edun said that current conditions require developing countries to rethink traditional financing models.
“I think what it means for countries like Nigeria, other African countries, and even other developing countries is that we have to rely less on others and more on our own resources, on our own devices,” he said on the sidelines of the AlUla Conference for Emerging Market Economies.
He added: “We have to trade more with each other, we have to cooperate and invest in each other.”
Edun emphasized the importance of mobilizing domestic resources, particularly savings, to support investment and long-term economic development.
According to Edun, rising debt servicing costs are placing an increasing burden on developing economies, limiting their ability to fund growth and social programs.
“In an environment where developing countries as a whole — what we are paying in debt service, what we are paying in terms of interest costs and repayments of our debt — is more than we are receiving in what we call overseas development assistance, and it is more than even investments by wealthy countries in our economies,” he said.
Edun added that countries in the Global South are increasingly recognizing the need for deeper regional integration.
His comments reflect growing concern among developing nations that elevated borrowing costs and global instability are reshaping development finance, accelerating a shift toward domestic resource mobilization and stronger economic ties among emerging markets.
